Dec 3, 2012

When Your Son Rides the Short Bus

Before I became a mother I received tons of unsolicited
advice and opinions about motherhood. I heard the classics like "sleep now
because you'll never sleep again" and "once you become a mother
everything changes." Turns out that advice was wrong since I do sleep
every single night at some point and my eyes are the same color so everything
did not in fact change. But for all the solicited and unsolicited advice that I
received no one told me that there would come a day when I couldn’t help my
child, and that it would rip my heart out. I’ve never felt more helpless than
last week when I had to watch Mark cry for me to make things right, but I
couldn’t.

My son has been in Early Intervention since he was four
months old. They have provided us with many services and support over the
years. But their services end when your child turns three and then you are
handed over to the school district. I was worried about the transition period
since my son has mild Cerebral Palsy and it’s hard to get services for a kid
who is mild. We went through the testing process which was a nightmare and then
we waited for the results.

I went to the results meeting alone since I didn’t think it
was going to be a big deal. I knew he was going to get speech services since
the speech pathologist was kind enough to tell me during testing that he
qualified. I didn’t think that Mark would qualify for preschool but he did.
They individually went over the results and then dropped a bomb on me. Mark
qualified in all five areas that they test in and told me that he is severely
developmentally delayed.

That took the wind out of me. I knew he was behind his twin,
but I had no clue just how far behind he was. Then they dropped the second bomb
because really one is not enough. In their opinion, Mark would be unsuccessful
in a general education classroom and they were placing him in the self
contained special education classroom. I
was not prepared for that piece of information but I agreed with them after
seeing the test results. They were right; he really was far behind his peers.

One excited little boy on the first day of school

He started preschool last week. He was very excited about
going to school and did the classic crying on the first day. I knew he would be
fine once I left and that as hard as it was for me to admit it, my son really
did need to be in the self contained special education class. One of the perks
of his class is that it comes with bus services. Which is great for me since
his preschool is 20 minutes from the house. He was so excited about taking the
bus to school, right up until the moment that the bus pulled up.

Waiting for the Bus﻿

Once he realized that he was getting on the bus alone, he
burst into tears. Mark wanted his twin to go with him and both of them couldn't understand why that was impossible. I had Molly crying for her brother and Mark crying for his sister all while I tried to get Mark to the bus. The bus driver was very kind and allowed me to put Mark on
the bus. He screamed, cried, and tried to run off the bus a few times. And just to add to
my guilt he cried to me “don’t let the man take me mommy” over and over. WOW! That was a knife right through the heart!
I waved and smiled through my tearing up eyes as he drove away and I felt like
the worst mom in the world for letting the man take him away from me.

I don’t know what it was, but watching my son leave on the
short bus hurt in ways that I didn’t know was possible. I felt so guilty about
putting a scared 3 year old on the bus and sad that I really didn’t have a baby
anymore.And it was in that moment that
it hit me that the same person who made all the short bus jokes in her youth
now has a son on a short bus. And I started feeling guilty for the person I
once was who would make those jokes.

I know that eventually he will get on the bus without
crying. He didn’t have to get on the bus today since as luck would have it, he
got the chicken pox on Friday. But until that day comes, I will have to be
strong and do what my child needs, force him onto the bus kicking and screaming.

This post broke my heart. Such a difficult thing for you to have to work through. I admire your strength and appreciate that your son is so lucky to have you. A difficult transition, a tough diagnosis but hopefully all will be the best options for him.

Thanks. It's a tough transition time for him but the good news is that he was sad this morning when he heard that he couldn't go to preschool. So at least he is liking school even if the bus ride is still scary.

Oh wow! I've never cried over a post before, but this one had me tearing up! An absolutely beautiful post! You are such an awesome mom! Your little man is absolutely ADORABLE and such a big boy! Yes, he will eventually stop crying. ;-) Thanks so much for sharing your story with us. I'm having trouble with my Google Friend Connect, so until I find out what's going on, I'll follow you via Twitter, Pinterset, etc. Have a blessed week!

I had that same experience last year - my twins are 4! weird to hear about it from somewhere else. It's hard to put a 3 yr old on a bus!! Do you have an iPad/iPhone? They have a great Wheels on the Bus app that helped my daughter get excited. Really she was fine once she realized that school was fun and home was boring. Though, I think I drove her to school myself the first week and let the bus bring her home.-Jill

This almost made me cry... My oldest is almost three and I just can't imagine the emotions you feel/felt. Before you have a child your post would just have been words.. but I know each one is a door open to so much deep feeling that can't be described. I'm sorry this was hard. I'm probably way behind. Does it get better?